Role of Information Technology in Lean Enterprise Systems
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Role of Information Technology in Lean Enterprise Systems Bhaskar Dubbaka Sayed Payam Dadkhah This thesis comprises 15 ECTS credits and is a compulsory part in the Master of Science With a Major in Industrial Engineering – Quality & Environmental Management, 60 ECTS credits No 25/2009 Role of Information technology in Lean enterprise systems Bhaskar Dubbaka, [email protected] Sayed Payam Dadkhah, [email protected] Master Thesis Subject Category: Technology Series and Number: Industrial Engineering- Quality and Environmental Management University College of Borås School of Engineering SE 501 90 BORÅS Telephone: +46 033 435 4640 Examiner: Stefan Book Supervisor: Stefan Book [email protected] Date: June, 2009 Keywords: Lean, Information technology, IT, Lean-IT, Enterprise, Quality etc. Acknowledgements Our master’s thesis work represents the essence of our achievements during one year of study in Industrial Engineering- Quality and Environmental management program at University College of Borås, Borås. During this period there have been many people who have inspired us throughout the study period. The thesis work is concluding part of our university degree in MSc. in Industrial Engineering- Quality and Environmental management. This master’s thesis was written during summer 2009. This period was very exciting And it was very valuable as it has given us very knowledgeable and practical experience for the theoretical subjects we have been studying. We wish to acknowledge the assistance of Stefan Book, our thesis advisor, in the preparation of this thesis work. His professional guidance, insightful suggestions and immense cooperation was of immeasurable benefit in this research. We would also like to express deepest gratitude Lars- Gunnar who helped us a lot in academic writing. Finally, we would like to thank our classmates for their valuable views and suggestions throughout our study period. We thank our families and friends for their love and understanding during our studies in Sweden, wherever we are, you are always with us. Bhaskar Dubbaka Sayed Payam Dadkhah. ABSTRACT With the fast a growth of the global economy and the competition in the world, all business enterprises are trying to deliver their products at the lowest possible price and at high quality. At the same time businesses should run in profit. This is possible by reducing waste and introducing new technology like information technology (IT). IT provides necessary information for the customers regarding the new products, quality and recent features about the product design. By using databases in the enterprise, recent market trends and customer needs can be known in advance and the product design can be changed and make the customers more satisfaction. IT also plays an important role in the security of information in the enterprise and also security to the customers regarding product delivery and product details. Lean management systems provide the new ideas about the non value and unnecessary activities in the enterprise. Ultimately Lean reduces the wastage and improves the customer satisfaction. Our thesis focuses on advantages of lean-IT in business enterprise and how information technology can be useful in customer service and continuous improvement by utilizing knowledge management. Key words: Lean, Information technology, Enterprise, Quality. 4 | P a g e Abbreviations IT Information Technology ERP Enterprise Resource Planning CRM Customer Relationship Management E-Business Electronic Business B2B Business to Business B2C Business to Customer AI Artificial Intelligence KM Knowledge Management CMC Computer Mediated Communication PDCA Plan, Do, Check, Act 5 | P a g e Table of Contents Role of Information Technology in Lean Enterprise Systems ...................................................................... 1 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 6 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Purpose .......................................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Limitations ..................................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 9 1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 9 1.4.1 Research strategy .................................................................................................................. 9 1.4.2 Positivistic paradigm .............................................................................................................. 9 1.4.3 Deduction .............................................................................................................................. 9 1.4.4 Data collection ..................................................................................................................... 10 1.4.5 Definitions ........................................................................................................................... 10 2 Overview of Lean and IT: ..................................................................................................................... 12 2.1 Overview of Lean enterprise ....................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Over view of Information Technology (IT): ................................................................................. 13 2.3 Over View of “Six Sigma”: ............................................................................................................ 13 3 Lean Enterprise .................................................................................................................................... 16 3.1 Advantages of Lean-IT ................................................................................................................. 16 3.2 Need of lean enterprises ............................................................................................................. 16 3.3 Knowledge Management ............................................................................................................ 17 3.4 Need of knowledge management for an enterprise ................................................................... 17 3.5 Structure for managing knowledge ............................................................................................. 17 3.6 Knowledge Management life cycle: ............................................................................................ 18 3.6.1 Knowledge Transfer ............................................................................................................. 19 3.6.2 Role of IT in knowledge transfer ......................................................................................... 19 3.6.3 Knowledge Use .................................................................................................................... 19 3.7 Role of Lean-IT in knowledge management ................................................................................ 19 4 Theoretical frame work for Lean-IT ..................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Lean-IT role in business enterprises ............................................................................................ 21 4.2 Role of ERP & E-Business in Business Enterprise ........................................................................ 21 6 | P a g e 4.3 E-Business and ERP in Business Operations ................................................................................ 22 4.4 Advantages of ERP and E-business integration in business enterprise ....................................... 23 4.5 Lean role in customer service ...................................................................................................... 24 4.6 IT role in customer service .......................................................................................................... 25 4.7 How business operations can become efficient by lean-IT ......................................................... 27 4.8 IT support for lean enterprise in business strategy ..................................................................... 28 4.9 Continuous improvement by lean techniques and principles..................................................... 28 4.10 IT role in continuous improvement of business enterprise ........................................................ 31 5 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 32 6 Scope for future work.......................................................................................................................... 33 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................